Turkey Marsala Meatballs with Mozzerella

Meatballs are the ultimate comfort food for me, especially made from scratch. I like to make a big batch on the weekend and store them in the fridge or freezer to use for the week, on a sub roll or with pasta. For this recipe I used ground turkey instead of beef to make it healthier, but you can easily sub in ground beef, veal, or chicken depending on what you have. I also stuck little cubes of mozzarella inside the meatballs... it makes it soo good and an interesting twist on traditional meatballs. The Marsala wine is totally optional--I just added it in for extra flavor and it was delicious.

Turkey Marsala Meatballs with Mozzarella
Serves 6 (roughly 18 meatballs)

1/2 lb ground turkey (or beef, chicken, veal, etc)
1/2 lb pork sausage
1/2 cup grated or finely diced onion
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 egg
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 oz of fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
salt and fresh cracked pepper
1/4 cup fresh or (2 tsp dry) italian herbs or , parsley, basil, thyme, rosemary, whatever you got.
1/2 cup chopped mushrooms (optional)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp Marsala wine
6 oz pasta of your choice

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine ingredients up to the herbs to make the meatballs. If the mixture is too wet, add more breadcrumbs until it feels malleable, and then form 1.5 inch balls with the mozzarella cheese cubes in the middle. In a large skillet add the olive oil and swirl it around to coat the pan. When hot, drop in the meatballs one at a time, careful not to crowd the pan. When the meatballs are browned on all sides, place them on a baking sheet and bake them for 10 additional minutes, checking to make sure they're not dried out. While the meatballs are baking, saute mushrooms in the same skillet. Deglaze the pan with Marsala wine, scraping the bottom of the pan, and reduce until sauce consistency. Serve meatballs over pasta of your choice, drizzle the wine sauce over, and sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan and black pepper.